(Health.com) -- It's dinnertime, and you're craving something with a little flavor. Maybe you'll grab Indian takeout or whip up a taco salad. But, uh-oh, these days it's easy to find yourself biting into the ethnic version of a triple burger and fries.

"We've Americanized dishes to the extent that they don't have their original health benefits," says Daphne Miller, M.D., author of "The Jungle Effect: The Healthiest Diets from Around the World -- Why They Work and How to Make Them Work for You."

Enjoy global cuisines in their purest state, on the other hand, and you get meals that are light, nutritious, and incredibly yummy. So we asked experts to rank the 10 healthiest cuisines and reveal what makes them good for you.

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3. Fresh herbs, lots of vegetables and seafood, and cooking techniques that use water or broth instead of oils -- these are some of the standout qualities of Vietnamese food.

"This cuisine, prepared the traditional way, relies less on frying and heavy coconut-based sauces for flavor and more on herbs, which makes it lower in calories," Largeman-Roth explains.

Traditional Vietnamese flavorings (including cilantro, mint, Thai basil, star anise, and red chili) have long been used as alternative remedies for all sorts of ailments, and cilantro and anise have actually been shown to aid digestion and fight disease-causing inflammation.

One of the healthiest and most delicious Vietnamese dishes is 'Pho' (pronounced "fuh"), an aromatic, broth-based noodle soup full of antioxidant-packed spices.

Copyright Health Magazine 2011

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